The answer is MAYBE. In short the Data Connectivity Gateways are paid features of PowerBI, and if an author of a PowerBI solution starts using a paid feature, ALL users that needs to access the workbook will need a PowerBI license. The PowerBI Free version only supports the date source listed below. So what does this mean for my licensing cost: Well it means $9.99/month=$119/Year per for every user granted access to any Dashboard for PAID features:

Conclusion:

SSAS OLAP, SSAS Tabular, SQL Server, and IBM DB2 is support by Power BI as datasourcea, which is very cool, but it as a cost associated with it. (see above)

But wait there is more – Power Query in Excel provides different data sources than PowerBI 2.0 data sources. How does that work?

ODBC, SAP BO, Great Plains, Axapta, Navision, Oracle OBIEE 11. How do I include these data sources in my Power BI solution?

Conclusion

We are now nailing it down to the best features of the PowerBI framework: OneDrive. Power Update supports data refresh of any Data Source that Power Query in Excel supports, including OneDrive, and this is why you might want to consider Power Update for your PowerBI solution.

What should my PowerBI strategy for Data Management look like?

If you have on premise, well developed Data Warehouses, make a strategic choice and make your organization invest in Power BI Data Connectors and pay the $119 per user per year. Power Planner is a century long Microsoft Partner.

If you are sitting on the fence, there are a few strategies to follow to test out the Power BI 2.0 Free version

Conclusion:

Power Update makes you refresh ANY data source that Power Query in Excel lets you connect to. (PowerBI does not)

Power Update does NOT require another licensing scheme for PowerBI 2.0. Current Pricing is $499 as a one-time fee, and $99 if you want updates to newer versions of Windows. Power Update lets you take full advantage of the entire portfolio.

Create a Power BI strategy.

Define your Data Sources – Make that lead you to the decision.

Adhere to the new Microsoft PowerBI 2.0 solution, as long it follows the Microsoft Roadmap!

Microsoft is using Power Update! J Redmond, Israel, Thailand and Singapore….